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If I was in your position I would get professional help. There are a few companies that can help ypou out with behavoural issues and will give you tools you need to work on your dog.
If you're not experienced with dog behavioural issues going it alone could just exaserbate the problem.
Hopefully Christy will pop into this thread and give you some pointers
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I would get rid of the dog. Ok you love him, but I would feel awful if something happened to one of the kids because I kept it
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A pet isn't a disposable item to 'get rid of' at the first hurdle. They require love, attention and understanding and if it turns out after effort that the animal really isn't the right fit then they need to be thoughtfully rehomed. Anyone who has euthanased a dog or a cat simply because it wasn't wanted will understand my offence to what you have said.I would get rid of the dog. Ok you love him, but I would feel awful if something happened to one of the kids because I kept it
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I would call in a 'dog whisperer'!! Definitely consult with someone who's methods and goals resonate with yours. Say, if you are vehemently opposed to choker chains, don't hire someone who tells you to use one, keep looking.
I actually watched "The Dog Whisperer" at a friend's place the other day and was really quite impressed by the man's motivations and methods
My sister adopted a dog that turned out to have some pit bull in it after being told it was a mastiff x lab (no way was it that, it probably had some boxer in it, but def no lab and no mastiff!). They loved the dog but he started to get a bit nippy. She'd been taking him to obedience training for months and months and couldn't get on top of him and does not have the internal resources to put the energy required to get this dog in line. She gave him up and an active, child-less couple has taken him on. In her case it wasn't a case of getting a dog and just deciding he wasn't right - the shelter mislead her (knowingly or otherwise) because he was most definitely not the breed she expected. Though, even if he HAD been a mastiff x lab, she'd have been in for a couple of years of work...she's really not a dog person, she needs a lap dog for her family! In hindsight, it's not the dog that's the problem for her, it's her thinking a dog should fit in and hope like hell it doesn't need stacks of training! Both parties are better off without each other in that case.
Good luck, he sounds redeemable
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ummm woooo I never said KILL it. I said get RID of it... as in rehome or whatever.
Ok so that is YOUR opinion over an animal but to me the love of my children and the safety of myself and others around me is MORE important then a pet.
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Lenny Good on you and DH for opting to get some outside help for you 4 legged boy
We have a 8 year old lab x kelpie and he is very excitable at times.Our boy and DS are great friends but we will NEVER leave them alone together. DS pokes and prods our boy and at times he'll just lie there and other times he'll get up and walk away
You have been given some fantastic advice from some wonderful people in here. I'm keen to hear how he progresses once your parents have gone home
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mako - looking sassy! I haven't seen your new av! Thanks for the support.
Mayaness - Redeemable - I like that!! He is redeemable. I used to sort of complain that the shelter mislead us a bit - but really, we were naive. I'm glad your sis found a great home for her dog. It's good that the dog gets a happier life now.
krysalyss -
missymoo - this would be an absolute last resort. Absolutely LAST resort. We are a million miles from this point atm. I am actually looking foward to putting in some time, effort (and money) and then really enjoying our dog and our relationship.
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Ok I know you are trying to be supportive, but like krys said, anyone who has ever had to euthanise a healthy animal who can be helped for convienience sake will be offended by your original statement. The problem is the commitment you make when you take an animal home as part of your family. The actual amount of rehoming that happens is quite small. Unless you give it to someone you know, the RSPCA and other "rehoming" agencies have a very hard time rehoming animals.
Lenny he does sound redeemable
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Lenny, I'm sure you'll get many, many years of love and enjoyment from your doggie boy. It is worth putting the effort in that you need to now.
I have taken in two dogs (JRs, so small) that were dumped and the first was very easy behaviourally-wise (although he was a complete nut until he turned 2 when suddenly all the training we'd been doing seemed to finally sink in). The second dog was a bit older and had some issues from being abused. She still is inclined to assert her personal space and gets funny over stealing food. She has received training, but with her background and age it's a lot harder. She is 200 times better than she was and quite trustworthy now. But there are some situations we know she won't be able to handle, and we make sure she isn't exposed to them (lots of people, finger food lying around, etc). She's also deaf, so gets 'surprised' easily.
My point is, if she can be trained to a position where it is only an occasional thing we need to remove her from then you can certainly get to where you want to be with your dog with professional help. I know our dog would have definitely been put to sleep if it had gone to the RSPCA and she is actually a very loving and easygoing pet - most of the time!
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I never said to put it down. I am confused where you are getting that from?? We had a dog that snapped at a visitor child and we REHOMED it ourselves. Put an add in the local paper and a guy came from a farm and took Zeb to live with him.
Geez.
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This is going to sound cruel, so I'm preparing myself for all the neg comments!!
We have a German Shephard who has just turned 2, and we had some trouble with him jumping and whatever when he was about 12-14 months old, and basically not listening to us. We called a trainer who is basically like that Dog Whisper guy XD And what he did was when he did something wrong, like jump, he would throw the chain at his rump and say "baarr" really loud and agressive like. Apparently it's meant to have the same affect as what their mother would have on them in the wild (a growl and a nip on the butt). He responded to it really well, and only needs correcting once when he does something wrong and never does it again. Our boys problem was more out of excitement though, and he really just needed to learn when it was and wasn't ok to get excited over something. So I'm not really sure how you would go being agressive towards him when he's being agressive towards an object iykwim. I would look in your paper and look for trainers who specialise in behavioural problems, I've always been a firm believer that you shouldn't touch or move a dogs food while they're eating it, (you wouldn't like it!
Good luck! Pets are great fun for kids I reckon, it would be nice if it was all sorted out and you could keep him
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Teagz, I have no problem with that! I have found that during puppihood, it can help to be the mummy puppy sometimes
MissyMoo - I know where you're coming from. Sometimes it's not worth persisting with a dog that you just can't trust - for whatever reason, be it you don't have the time to put into correcting the tendency, or the resources, whatever - because the cost is too high for that situation. Just like with horses, though, I'm a big believer in word-of-mouth and will never get a horse or dog through the papers or classifieds. Every time I get an email asking for a dog to be rehomed, the dog finds a home within a short time, or when one is advertised in the vet clinic. Our little dog was an email! Our big dog was from the shelter - very easy to find homes for 9 week old pups, though.
Anyway, whilst I can see the point the others were making, I think they were using MissyMoo's post as a platform for a view which is quite valid and bears thinking about, more than attacking MM's stance on the matter. I hope I'm right!
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Mayaness and MM: My offence is to do with the way the post was worded it. To say 'get rid of' something is to basically bring it down to the same value as rubbish. If the post had been worded "perhaps you should consider rehoming" then I would have had no offence to it. Note I did not think that MM suggested killing it. Being flippant about rehoming to me is also offensive. Rehoming is not a simple process. To the animal it is very stressful to cope with the change that it brings. Additionally only a very small minority of animals are rehomed compared to the amount looking for homes. For cats the percentage is a lot smaller than dogs.
Many people consider it their right to own a pet therefore get one before thinking about what is required. An animal isn't an inanimate object and possesses rights of its own. To own a dog is a responsibility that more often than not requires some training. Out of the hundreds of dogs I have seen come into the shelter I worked at, approximately five had valid reasons. My own dog came from that pound. He had passed through four families before he got to me for no reason at all (including behavioural). Potential aggression can be a valid reason for rehoming. But for the respect of the animal, this is a decision that should be made with thought and kindness, not as if the pet is an inanimate object without feeling.
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